Plug-and-play time-variant antenna module for wireless communication devices

ABSTRACT

A plug-and-play antenna may be used with many different types of wireless communication devices. An antenna may be coupled to an impedance tuning component and a waveform generator. A calibration control module receives radio status information, controls the waveform generator to vary a response of the antenna, and tunes the impedance tuning component to match impedances between a radio and the antenna.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority benefit of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/603,749, filed Sep. 5, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field ofwireless communication devices, and more particularly, to plug-and-play,time-variant antenna modules for wireless communication devices.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Specified antenna performance characteristics are difficult to maintainafter antennas are installed in different mobile devices. Even amongmobile devices with identical or similar form factors, slightlydifferent antenna-installation locations that may be attributable tomanufacturing tolerances or errors typically result in deviationsbetween the specified and the actual antenna performance. Thesedeviations can negatively affect antenna performance and efficiency. Forexample, an antenna installed at a location offset by some distance(e.g., one or two millimeters) from its specified location may cause theantenna to deviate from its specified resonate frequency, which mayresult in a power amplifier wasting power while tuning the antenna toits originally specified resonant frequency. This inefficiencyprematurely drains a battery of the mobile device, or results insuboptimal transmission and reception.

To address potential performance concerns, conventional antennas arespecifically designed for various form factors. However, specificallydesigned antennas increase development costs and time-to-market formobile devices. Moreover, once the antenna is installed, its efficiencycannot be readily improved because the conventional antenna isspecifically designed and fully integrated with the transceiver in themobile device. Furthermore, even for specifically designed antennas,unpredictable manufacturing errors, interference from the human body, orother environmental conditions may degrade performance. For example, auser's hand or head touching the mobile device will typically detune theantenna to a degree that is often unpredictable, as it depends on auser's physical characteristics, the way mobile devices are held, orother environmental factors. Performance degradation of multi-band orbroadband antennas is difficult to dynamically improve because theenvironmental factors affecting the antenna may simultaneously detunemultiple (or broad) frequency bands employed by the antenna.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of embodiments will be apparent from the following detaileddescription of embodiments, which proceeds with reference to theaccompanying drawings. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example andnot by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module and a transceiver inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module and a transceiver inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module and a transceiver inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting a calibration operation in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system that may be used to practice variousembodiments described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, wherein like numeralsdesignate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by way ofillustration, embodiments in which the subject matter of the presentdisclosure may be practiced.

Various operations are described as multiple discrete operations inturn, in a manner that is helpful in understanding the claimed subjectmatter. However, the order of description should not be construed as toimply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Inparticular, these operations may not be performed in the order ofpresentation. Operations described may be performed in a different orderthan the described embodiment. Various additional operations may beperformed and/or described operations may be omitted in additionalembodiments.

For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B”means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the presentdisclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B),(A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “inembodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same ordifferent embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, are synonymous.

As used herein, the term “module” may refer to, be part of, or includean Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablecomponents that provide the described functionality.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) develop proprietary industrialdesigns for mobile devices of various form factors. To account forindustrial design differences that negatively affect antennaperformance, conventional antennas are specifically designed andintegrated into particular mobile device models. However, it ischallenging to affordably and timely design for every different device aspecific, optimized antenna. Furthermore, manufacturing errors andunpredictable environmental factors can degrade the antenna performance,even for fully integrated antenna designs.

According to embodiments described below, a dynamically configurableplug-and-play antenna module is capable of changing a resonance responseof the antenna (hereinafter “antenna response”) for multiband, singleband, and/or broadband operational modes. Additionally, theplug-and-play antenna module may be calibrated to match impedances forvarious mobile device form factors, to adjust for variances inantenna-installation locations attributable to manufacturing tolerancesor errors, and to dynamically compensate for various environmentalfactors. Thus, without changing the antenna structure, the plug-and-playantenna module may accommodate a variety of form factors having a widerange of proprietary designs and manufacturing differences. Furthermore,once deployed and configured for multi-band and broadband operation, theplug-and-play antenna module dynamically enhances antenna performance inresponse to human body affects or other environmental influences.Therefore, embodiments for a plug-and-play antenna module providemultiple operating modes and self-calibration capability in wirelessantenna systems for various mobile communication devices such assmartphones, tablets, notebooks, netbooks, or other mobile devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module 102 in accordance withsome embodiments. The plug-and-play antenna module 102 is a time-variantantenna module including a waveform generator 108, an antenna 112, animpedance-tuning component (ITC) 114, and a calibration control module116. In certain embodiments, the antenna 112 includes a passive antennastructure designed under mobile device boundary conditions for one ormore wireless communication frequencies. The waveform generator 108, ITC114, and calibration control module 116 may be collectively implementedin silicon. As explained below, the calibration control module 116 isconfigured to control the antenna response for multiband, single band,and/or broadband operational modes by producing with the waveformgenerator 108 a voltage waveform (also referred to herein as a controlwaveform) that controls the capacitance of an impedance-varyingcomponent (IVC) 120. In addition, the calibration control module 116 isconfigured to improve antenna efficiency by tuning the impedance of theITC 114 to match the impedance of the antenna 112 with a transceiver 118at operating frequencies.

The transceiver 118 includes a radio module 124. The radio module 124may be coupled with the ITC 114 by a signaling interface 130 (e.g., acoaxial cable) for transmission of a data-carrying signal, such as aradio-frequency (RF) signal. The radio module 124 includes atransmission line 132 to communicate (e.g., transmit/receive) the RFsignal with the antenna module 102 by way of the signaling interface130. In some embodiments, the radio module 124 is disposed on a circuitboard, such as printed circuit board (PCB) 138. The radio module 124 maybe directly coupled with the PCB 138 or coupled with the PCB 138 throughanother circuit board (e.g., wireless card 140). The antenna module 102receives power from a power interface 144, which may be disposedseparately from the PCB 138 in some embodiments.

The waveform generator 108 is configured to generate one of a pluralityof control waveforms that it provides to a filter 152 via a controlwaveform interface 154. The filter 152 is coupled with the IVC 120 by anantenna signaling interface, which may be a coaxial cable, to facilitatetransmission of the control waveform to the IVC 120. The controlwaveform is excited to the antenna 112 via the IVC 120, which may be avaractor, for example. The filter 152 passes the control waveform to theIVC 120 by the antenna signaling interface while inhibiting the RFsignal from interfering with the waveform generator 108. Thus, thefilter 152 provides at least some degree of isolation between thewaveform generator 108 and the transceiver 118.

The voltages of the control waveform vary (i.e., modulate and/orcontrol) the capacitance of the IVC 120 and produce controlledvariations of the characteristic resonant frequencies of the antenna112. A modulation frequency of the control waveform may be greater thantwice the radio signal bandwidth to meet the Nyquist sampling theoremfor transmitting/receiving data without data contamination. By varyingthe impedance of the IVC 120, the antenna response is configured (ordynamically reconfigured) to change a resonating frequency from a firstband to a second band, from one band to multi-bands, and/or from arelatively narrowband to a relatively wideband. For example, in someembodiments, a control waveform that is a square waveform results in adual-band antenna response, a control waveform that is a tri-stepwaveform results in a tri-band antenna response, and a control waveformthat is a sawtooth waveform results in a wideband antenna response.Thus, varying amplitude, frequency, and/or shape of the control waveformprovides selectable antenna responses without any changes to the antennastructure. The capability of dynamically reconfiguring the antennaresponse allows for the antenna 112 to be smaller than a conventionalantenna and/or allows for the use of fewer antennas altogether. In someembodiments, the antenna 112 may be smaller than a conventional antennaby thirty percent or more.

The ITC 114 includes a switchable impedance module 160 that isdynamically tunable to match impedances between the antenna module 102and a corresponding transceiver, such as the transceiver 118. The ITC114 may be designed to interface with the transceiver 118 at astandardized or predetermined impedance (e.g., fifty Ohms or anotherimpedance value), and the switchable impedance module 160 is dynamicallytunable to adjust for variations in the standardized or predeterminedimpedance value.

In addition to impedance matching capabilities, the switchable impedancemodule 160 may also provide impedance at the antenna signaling interfacethat affects the antenna response and can therefore tune the antennafrequencies to compensate for environmental changes attributable tohuman hands or other environmental conditions, to different installationlocations for various different phone models and/or manufacturingdeviations, or to other conditions that change the impedance of thetransceiver 118.

As shown in FIG. 1, in certain embodiments, the switchable impedancemodule 160 includes an array of capacitors 162 (or other impedancetuning components) of different values that are addressable with switchlogic 164. The switch logic 164 is configured to electrically activateor deactivate individual capacitors, and establish selected combinationsof active/inactive capacitors depending on a desired impedance value.For example, the impedance of the antenna module may be configurable byswitching individual capacitors in the array of capacitors 162 betweenthe RF signaling interface 130 and ground. In some embodiments, anddepending on the desired resolution and range of impendence values, fiveor six (for example) individual capacitor elements are included in thearray 162. For example, a digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) thatincludes switchable capacitors is model number PE64904 DuNE™ DTC,available from Peregrine Semiconductor of San Diego, Calif., USA.Persons skilled in the art will recognize from the disclosure herein,however, that other DTC may be used, any number of capacitors may beused, and that various different capacitor values may be used to achievea desired impedance tuning resolution.

The calibration control module 116 is coupled with the antenna module102 and provides digital control signals to the waveform generator 108via an operational control interface 170, and provides digital controlsignals to the ITC 114 via a calibration control interface 172, whichmay be a serial data interface.

The calibration control module 116 provides an input to the waveformgenerator 108 to configure the antenna 112 for a desired wirelesstransmission protocol. The calibration control module 116 controls thewaveform generator 108 in a manner to apply control waveforms withappropriate amplitude, shape, and/or frequency to establish variousoperational modes. In some embodiments, the calibration control module116 controls the waveform generator 108 based on operational parameters174. The operational parameters 174, in some embodiments, are parametersthat relate to an operational mode of the transceiver 118. For example,in some embodiments, the transceiver 118 switches from operating in afirst operational mode in accordance with a first protocol—e.g., digitaltelevision (DTV), long-term evolution (LTE), WiFi, WiMAX, Bluetooth,global positioning satellite (GPS), near field communication (NFC), oranother protocol—that uses a first antenna response, to operating in asecond operational mode in accordance with a second protocol that uses asecond antenna response. Additionally, in some embodiments, differentoperational modes may also be used within one protocol. For example, thetransceiver 118 may use a first antenna response for uplinkcommunications and a second antenna response for downlinkcommunications. Other operational parameters may beadditionally/alternatively used in other embodiments.

The calibration control module 116 also controls values input to the ITC114 by receiving impedance values for the transceiver 118 and for theantenna 112, determines a desired calibration control value, andprovides the desired calibration control value to the ITC 114. In someembodiments, the calibration control module 116 also concurrentlycontrols the waveform generator 108 based on the tuning parameters 176.

The tuning parameters 176, in some embodiments, are parameters thatrelate to the operating environment of the transceiver 118, or itscomponents. For example, in some embodiments, the position of a user'shand holding a mobile communication device hosting the transceiver 118detunes the antenna response. In another example, an antenna responsedeviates from an expected antenna response to a less optimal antennaresponse upon installation and placement of the antenna module 102 in amobile communication device. In either example, the calibration controlmodule 116 controls the ITC 114 to tune the antenna response tocompensate for environmental changes. In such a manner, the antennaresponse may be adapted to a particular environment in which the antenna112 is operating.

In various embodiments, the calibration control module 116 may bepre-programmed with the tuning parameters 176 (e.g., at assembly of themobile communication device) and/or may receive the tuning parameters176 dynamically through operation. In one embodiment, the radio module124 may include a sensor 184 to sense changes in electricalcharacteristics associated with the transmission line 132 and/or RFsignal on the signaling interface 130. For example, the sensor 184detects signal power of the RF signal, output impedance of the radiomodule 124, or other electrical characteristics. These sensed changesmay indicate that an antenna response has become detuned. The sensor 184may generate radio status information (RSI) based on these sensedelectrical characteristics and feed the RSI back to the calibrationcontrol module 116 via an RSI interface 190. The calibration controlmodule 116 then adjusts the antenna response based on the RSI. In otherembodiments, a similar sensor may be located in or coupled to theantenna module 102 and/or outside the radio module 124 in thetransceiver 118.

FIG. 2 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module 202 in accordance withsome embodiments. The antenna module 202 includes a waveform generator208, an antenna 112, an ITC 114, and a calibration control module 116that are similar to previously described components, except as notedbelow. Additionally, a transceiver 118 shown in FIG. 2 and itscomponents operate similar to the transceiver 118 shown in FIG. 1 andits components, except as otherwise noted.

In this embodiment, rather than producing a voltage waveform, thewaveform generator 208 includes a switchable impedance module 250 thatis similar to the switchable impedance module 160. The switchableimpedance module 250 includes an array of capacitors 251 and switchlogic 253, which the waveform generator 208 uses to produce a pluralityof different digitally controlled “capacitance waveforms” to modulatethe impedance at an antenna signaling interface and control the antennaresponse, as described above. For example, the switchable impedancemodule 250 may switch back and forth between two capacitance values togenerate a square capacitance waveform applied to an input of theantenna 112 that produces a dual-band antenna response. As otherexamples, the switchable impedance module 250 generates a tri-stepcapacitance waveform that produces a tri-band antenna response, and theswitchable impedance module 250 generates a sawtooth capacitancewaveform that produces a wideband antenna response. Skilled persons willrecognize from the disclosure herein that other capacitance waveformsmay be used to generate other antenna responses. Thus, varyingamplitude, frequency, and/or shape of the capacitance waveform providesselectable antenna responses without any changes to the antennastructure. The capacitance values of the switchable impedance module 250are selected to produce the capacitance waveforms with desiredresolutions. In other embodiments, an ITC and waveform generator arecombined and use a single switchable impedance module that functions ina similar manner as a standalone ITC, waveform generator, and/or IVC.

FIG. 3 illustrates a plug-and-play antenna module 302 according toanother embodiment. The antenna module 302 includes a waveform generator208, an antenna 112, and an ITC 114 that are similar to previouslydescribed components. However, in this embodiment, a calibration controlcomponent 316 communicates to a transceiver 318 via a calibrationcontrol interface 319. The transceiver 318 includes an operationalcontrol module 334 that has operational parameters 374 similar tooperational parameters 174. The transceiver 318 receives RSI from sensor384 via an RSI interface 390 that is internal to the transceiver 318,and establishes an operational mode based on the operational parameters374. Operational mode information is conveyed to the calibration controlmodule 316 by way of the control interface 319. The calibration controlmodule 316 uses operational mode information alone, or in combinationwith other electrical characteristics received from, for example, anantenna sensor 394 via an antenna sensor interface 396, to control thewaveform generator 208 and the ITC 114, as previously described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting a tuning operation 400 in accordancewith some embodiments. The tuning operation 400 includes sensing 402(e.g., with sensor 184, 384, and/or 394) electrical characteristics (EC)of a signal, radio module, and/or transmission line. The EC may besensed on a radio module's transmission line that is coupled with asignaling interface, and/or by characteristics of other signals withinthe radio module itself. In various embodiments, various electricalcharacteristics may be sensed including, but not limited to, signalpower and output impedance.

The tuning operation 400 also includes comparing 404 sensed electricalcharacteristics (SEC) to predetermined desired electricalcharacteristics (DEC). The DEC may be a range of permissible or expectedvalues of the particular electrical characteristics. The comparing 404may include determining whether an absolute value of a differencebetween the SEC and the DEC is greater than a predetermined thresholdvalue. The predetermined threshold value may correspond with the rangeof permissible or expected values.

If it is determined that the difference between the SEC and the DEC isgreater than the predetermined threshold value, the tuning operation 400includes adjusting 406 an impedance of a plug-and-play antenna module(e.g., antenna modules 102, 202, and 302) and/or adjusting a controlwaveform. The adjusting may occur by a calibration control module (e.g.,calibration control module 116 or 316) providing appropriate digitalcontrol signals to an impedance tuning component (e.g., ITC 114) and toa waveform generator (e.g., waveform generator 108 or 208). The tuningoperation 400 may then loop back to sensing 402 of the EC.

If, however, it is determined 404 that the difference between the SECand the DEC is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold value,the tuning operation 400 may loop back to sensing 402 of the EC.

Calibration of the antenna module, according to certain embodiments, canbe performed dynamically and at various times depending on actual oranticipated factors that affect the antenna response. For example, threecalibration routines are contemplated as follows, presented in order ofincreasing calibration precision: a primary, secondary, and finalcalibration.

The primary calibration is a relatively coarse calibration performedprior to installation (or following shortly thereafter) of the antennamodule. The primary calibration routine accounts for differenttransceiver impedance specifications, for mobile-device boundaryconditions attributable to form factor differences, or for otherproprietary industrial design differences.

The secondary calibration routine is employed upon completion of theOEM-assembly stage to automatically account for manufacturing errors ordeviations among similar or identical mobile communication devices.

Once the mobile communication device is shipped to a user, the finalcalibration routine is employed to sense conditions such as the presenceof a human hand, or other environmental changes, and then dynamicallyadjust the impedance with ITC based on the transceiver impedance, andoptionally tune the antenna response depending on how the user isholding the phone, for example.

The plug-and-play antenna modules described herein may be implementedinto a system using any suitable hardware and/or software to configureas desired. FIG. 5 illustrates, for one embodiment, an example system500, such as a mobile phone or other mobile communication device,comprising one or more processor(s) 504, system control logic 508coupled with at least one of the processor(s) 504, system memory 512coupled with the system control logic 508, non-volatile memory(NVM)/storage 516 coupled with the system control logic 508, and anetwork interface 520 coupled with the system control logic 508.

The processor(s) 504 may include one or more single-core or multi-coreprocessors. The processor(s) 504 may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, or other processors).

System control logic 508 for one embodiment may include any suitableinterface controllers to provide for any suitable interface to at leastone of the processor(s) 504 and/or to any suitable device or componentin communication with the system control logic 508.

The system control logic 508 for one embodiment may include one or morememory controller(s) to provide an interface to the system memory 512.The system memory 512 may be used to load and store data and/orinstructions, for example, for the system 500. The system memory 512 forone embodiment may include any suitable volatile memory, such assuitable dynamic random access memory (DRAM), for example.

The NVM/storage 516 may include one or more tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable media used to store data and/or instructions, forexample. The NVM/storage 516 may include any suitable non-volatilememory, such as flash memory, for example, and/or may include anysuitable non-volatile storage device(s), such as one or more hard diskdrive(s) (HDD(s)), one or more compact disk (CD) drive(s), and/or one ormore digital versatile disk (DVD) drive(s) for example.

The NVM/storage 516 may include a storage resource physically part of adevice on which the system 500 is installed or it may be accessible by,but not necessarily a part of, the device. For example, the NVM/storage516 may be accessed over a network via the network interface 520.

The system memory 512 and the NVM/storage 516 may respectively include,in particular, temporal and persistent copies of tuning logic 524 andparameters 526, e.g., operational and tuning parameters. The tuninglogic 524 may include instructions that, when executed by at least oneof the processor(s) 504, result in the system 500 performing tuningoperations described herein. In some embodiments, the tuning logic 524,or hardware, firmware, and/or software components thereof, mayadditionally/alternatively be located in the system control logic 508,the network interface 520, and/or the processor(s) 504.

The network interface 520 may have a transceiver 522 coupled to aplug-and-play antenna module 523 to provide a radio interface for thesystem 500 to communicate over one or more network(s) and/or with anyother suitable device. The network interface 520 may include anysuitable hardware and/or firmware. The network interface 520 may includea plurality of antenna modules to provide a MIMO radio interface. Thenetwork interface 520, for one embodiment, may include a networkadapter, a wireless network adapter, a telephone modem, and/or awireless modem.

The transceiver 522 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeablewith, transceivers 118 and/or 318. Likewise, the antenna module 523 maybe similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, antenna modules102, 202, and/or 302. In various embodiments, the transceiver 522 orantenna module 523 may be integrated with other components of the system500. For example, the transceiver 522 may include a processor of theprocessor(s) 504, memory of the system memory 512, and NVM/Storage ofthe NVM/Storage 516.

For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 504 may be packagedtogether with logic for one or more controller(s) of the system controllogic 508. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 504 maybe packaged together with logic for one or more controllers of thesystem control logic 508 to form a System in Package (SiP). For oneembodiment, at least one of the processor(s) 504 may be integrated onthe same die with logic for one or more controller(s) of the systemcontrol logic 508. For one embodiment, at least one of the processor(s)504 may be integrated on the same die with logic for one or morecontroller(s) of the system control logic 508 to form a System on Chip(SoC).

The system 500 may further include input/output (I/O) devices 532. TheI/O devices 532 may include user interfaces designed to enable userinteraction with the system 500, peripheral component interfacesdesigned to enable peripheral component interaction with the system 500,and/or sensors designed to determine environmental conditions and/orlocation information related to the system 500.

In various embodiments, the user interfaces could include, but are notlimited to, a display (e.g., a liquid crystal display, a touch screendisplay, etc.), a speaker, a microphone, one or more cameras (e.g., astill camera and/or a video camera), a flashlight (e.g., a lightemitting diode flash), and a keyboard.

In various embodiments, the peripheral component interfaces may include,but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, an audio jack, and apower supply interface.

In various embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to,a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient lightsensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be partof, or interact with, the network interface 520 to communicate withcomponents of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system(GPS) satellite.

In various embodiments, the system 500 may be a mobile computing devicesuch as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tabletcomputing device, a netbook, a smartphone, etc. In various embodiments,the system 500 may have more or less components, and/or differentarchitectures.

It will be understood by skilled persons that many changes may be madeto the details of the above-described embodiments without departing fromthe underlying principles of the invention. The scope of the presentinvention should, therefore, be determined only by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An antenna module configured to communicatea radio frequency (RF) signal with a transceiver, the antenna modulecomprising: an antenna; an impedance tuning component coupled to theantenna, the impedance tuning component to match an impedance of theantenna to the transceiver at a plurality of operating frequencies; awaveform generator coupled to the antenna, the waveform generator togenerate a control waveform; and a calibration control module coupledwith the transceiver and the waveform generator, the calibration controlmodule to control the waveform generator to selectively provide thecontrol waveform to vary a response of the antenna, and to selectivelytune the impedance tuning component.
 2. The antenna module of claim 1,wherein the waveform generator is configured to generate a voltagewaveform.
 3. The antenna module of claim 2, further comprising: animpedance varying component coupled between the waveform generator andthe antenna, the impedance varying component responsive to the voltagewaveform to produce controlled variations of characteristic resonantfrequencies of the antenna.
 4. The antenna module of claim 3, furthercomprising: a filter coupled in line with the impedance varyingcomponent between the waveform generator and the antenna.
 5. The antennamodule of claim 3, wherein the impedance varying component comprises avaractor.
 6. The antenna module of claim 1, wherein the waveformgenerator is configured to generate a capacitance waveform.
 7. Theantenna module of claim 6, wherein the waveform generator comprises aswitchable impedance module.
 8. The antenna module of claim 1, whereinthe waveform generator, the calibration control module, and theimpedance tuning component are monolithically integrated in a commondie.
 9. The antenna module of claim 1, wherein the impedance tuningcomponent comprises a switchable impedance module.
 10. The antennamodule of claim 1, further comprising: a sensor coupled with an RFtransmission line and configured to provide antenna and/or radio statusinformation to the calibration control module based on an RF signal onthe RF transmission line.
 11. The antenna module of claim 1, wherein thecalibration control module is configured to control the waveformgenerator based on pre-programmed tuning parameters.
 12. The antennamodule of claim 1, wherein the calibration control module is configuredto control the waveform generator based on operational parameters. 13.The antenna module of claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises a passiveantenna structure designed under mobile device boundary conditions forone or more wireless communication frequencies.
 14. A method forcontrolling a time-variant antenna module, comprising: generating acontrol waveform to vary a response of an antenna and thereby provide aselected operating frequency of the time-variant antenna module; sensingan electrical characteristic associated with the antenna and/or a radio;comparing the sensed electrical characteristic to predetermined desiredelectrical characteristics; and adjusting, based on said comparing, aswitchable impedance value to match impedances between the antenna andthe radio at the selected operating frequency of the time-variantantenna module.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said comparingincludes: determining that an absolute value of a difference between thesensed electrical characteristics and the desired electricalcharacteristics is greater than a predetermined value.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the electrical characteristic is an input impedance ofan antenna module and/or output impedance of a radio module.
 17. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the predetermined desired electricalcharacteristics are associated with a mobile device form factor.
 18. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the predetermined desired electricalcharacteristics are associated with manufacturing tolerances of aparticular mobile device form factor.
 19. The method of claim 14,wherein the sensed electrical characteristics correspond toenvironmental effects.
 20. An antenna module, comprising: an antenna fortransmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals; means fortuning an impedance of the antenna in response to changing environmentalconditions; and means for varying a response of the antenna to changebetween operational modes.
 21. The antenna module of claim 20, whereinthe operational modes are selected from a group comprising multiband,single band, and broadband operational modes.
 22. A mobile communicationdevice, comprising: a radio module; and an antenna module coupled withthe radio module by a signaling interface configured to convey aradio-frequency (RF) signal between the radio and antenna modules, theantenna module including: an antenna; an impedance tuning componentcoupled to the antenna and to the signaling interface; a waveformgenerator; and a calibration control module coupled with the waveformgenerator and with the impedance tuning component, the calibrationcontrol module configured to receive radio status information and, basedon the radio status information, to control the waveform generator tovary a response of the antenna, and to tune the impedance tuningcomponent to match impedances between the radio and antenna modules. 23.The mobile communication device of claim 22, further comprising: animpedance varying component responsive to the voltage waveform, whereinthe waveform generator is configured to generate a voltage waveform. 24.The mobile communication device of claim 22, wherein the waveformgenerator is configured to generate a capacitance waveform, and whereinthe waveform generator comprises a switchable impedance module.
 25. Themobile communication device of claim 22, wherein the radio modulecomprises: a transmission line to communicate the RF signal with thesignaling interface; and a sensor proximal the signaling interface, thesensor configured to sense an electrical characteristic associated withthe RF signal or the transmission line and to generate the radio statusinformation based on the sensed electrical characteristic.
 26. Themobile communication device of claim 25, wherein the sensed electricalcharacteristic corresponds to an input impedance of the antenna moduleand/or an output impedance of the radio during operation of the mobilecommunication device.
 27. The mobile communication device of claim 22,wherein the signaling interface comprises a coaxial cable.
 28. Themobile communication device of claim 22, wherein the calibration controlmodule and the impedance tuning component are coupled via a serialinterface.
 29. The mobile communication device of claim 22, wherein theimpedance tuning component includes a switchable impedance module.